June 14 - ALE has completed the installation of a new ball mill on the diamond mining vessel, Mafuta, in South Africa.
ALE used a crane to lift the 80-tonne ball mill onto skid beams on the quayside, so that it could be skidded into position in the vessel, which is currently being upgraded.
Once the ball mill was in position, ALE jacked it up so that the skidding beams could be removed. The unit was then lowered into its final position.
"It was the dimensional constraints that comes with working on a diamond mining vessel which made this project particularly unique and challenging," said ALE project manager in South Africa, Zayno Myburgh.
"The client wanted to reduce the time spent in the dry dock and as a result removed as little as possible structural works for the installation of the mill.
"Subsequently, we devised a solution so that the ball mill had to be lowered into the vessel at a steep angle and then gently corrected as it cleared overhead obstructions."
ALE completed the overall project, including installation and execution, in seven days.
